What did you do in the shop today?

[Gandalfgreen]

first day of pounding metal solo and it was amazing. started off just some half inch round bar and ended up with what I will call a coat hook and a letter opener.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Lookin good Gandalfgreen! That’s an interesting coat hanger, I like it! 

[Gandalfgreen]

apreciate that. think I am about to head back out. was working on drawing out and squaring off was going to make an s hook then realized the thickness of my horn and enjoyed curling it up. after I curled it the metal spoke to me and said draw out a little more at the neck bend slightly and flatten and it will hold a coat. letter opener was just me seeing what I could do at sort of a knife shape but man does it get hard when metal gets thin. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

It's a great feeling when you make something all by yourself. At least it was for me 30+ years ago. The metal still speaks to me too. Sometimes it says "not today".

[Gandalfgreen]

it was the greatest honestly they are nothing special but like you said I made them. think going to try and replicate the coat hook 3 more times and make a set of 4. and yes not being wierd but its wierd I ket the metal tell me what to make I dont gabe any ideas just practicing my swing and see where the metal tells me to go. sounds crazy so be it haha

 

[BillyBones]

Got a garden trowel made for my aunt today. Will make a rake to go with it. The trowel is a piece of angle iron flattened out.

Put the handle on my fire place shovel and was loose. Never did a forge braze before so i figured i would try. Burned the handle off, of well, no pic of failure.

[Daswulf]

Keep at it Gandalfgreen. With practice you can start making the steel do what you intended. 

I like the trowel out of angle iron Billy. Sorry bout your handle. It does happen. I don't think it would need that much heat for a braze. 

[Frosty]

Hold onto your firsts Gandalf, years from now you'll be able to look at them and feel the first time goodness again. You'll also be able to compare where you started with where you are. Good things. I'm happy to see you didn't make a letter hook and coat opener.  When you're letting it flow it sometimes leads you down strange trails. 

Billy: Old guy tip. You can't braze wood.  You CAN shrink fit the socket and handle if you heat it to say 400f slip the handle in and chill it in water. The socket will need to have a closed seam, brazed, welded, etc. 

Nice looking trowel, well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Gandalfgreen]

oo I am keeping everything Frosty but thanks for reminding me. started to replicate hook but didnt like how metal kept making green flame so stoped to be safe and stuck a railroad spike I was given and said let's see what happens here is what is started before had to shut down for noise. 

[jlpservicesinc]

I love it over a time frame seeing all the people who come on here just getting started and the next thing you know they are producing great work. 

[JHCC]

Yeah, green flame bad, generally speaking. Otherwise, I'm so glad that you're finally up and running! (You're still welcome over here, though.)

[Gandalfgreen]

John I honestly hope to get over there within next 14 days lol before start new job and only off monday and tuesday for a while. I am so happy I got to hammer all day but not sure how I am doing but felt much better at the end way less hammer strikes. just want to get that end sealed off be safe and wore mask all day just incase. 

[JHCC]

Smart move. 

So, I rough cut out the rooster for the sign with my handy-dandy new 000 torch tip:

I also had what I think will be a option for the spring. Rather than having it right at the connection between the foot and the scroll, I could cut the leg just above the thigh and mount a spring there. Here's what I made up as a proof-of-concept:

The idea here would be to cut the rooster about at that Sharpie line and then weld the flat sections of the spring down on either side of the coil. I made this up from some heavy election sign wire, but I think I might have some garage door spring lying around somewhere. It also occurred to me that I could try hardening the coil with some Kasenit once it's welded to the rest of the bird. Any thoughts?

[Frazer]

Inspired by another thread I played around with some chain making, but first I needed a mini double horn anvil..

The horns are RR clips (of the "&" shaped variety), forged to shape and full penetration welded to some flattened 1 1/2" round A36. 

Seems to work okay, perhaps a little too small. The links got better as I went along, but more practice is needed.

[Gandalfgreen]

I need to make a little horn l like that and those nice work.

[Frazer]

If it's just a little horn for the hardy hole then that's a bickern. Maybe this would qualify as a bickern too... perhaps a hardy stake anvil? Regardless, it's a tool. Sometimes making the tool(s) for the project is half the fun.

I almost made another pair of tongs too, but I ended up tweaking the jaws on a pair I don't use often.

Thanks, I tend to be all thumbs when making rings. This project will be good practice.

Also, I'm glad to see you're up and running! Looking forward to seeing more.

[jlpservicesinc]

Frazer..  Amazing work.. I love those older videos and if you figure that was from the 50's it wasn't that long ago how a lot of the information is missing.   On the hook be sure to add in the taper on the bottom for strength. 

great work.. 

[Gandalfgreen]

tongs I dont think I am ready for but I do know I need a different pair.  think I might try and modify a old set of nippers that their 2 cutting edges no longer meet. need something a little smaller.

[Frazer]

Jennifer, thank you, but I'll be the first to admit there are a couple of weak links in that chain. What I loved about that video is how quick and easy he makes it look. Obviously I can't go that fast, but watching it I can pick up on some of the little things he does that I wouldn't have thought about.

Gg, while most tongs aren't necessarily a beginner project there are some versions that can be:

Bolt tongs from bed frames

BP001 (scroll down to view)

My first pair was U-G-L-Y, but I still find an excuse to use them from time to time.

Before tongs I used vise grips, just be careful with those... I got a nasty 3rd degree burn on my forearm when I was first staring out from trying to hold round stock with them (a coil spring) and it flying back at me on a missed strike.  My niece calls the scar my "caterpillar".

Sounds like the nippers could work. Get a little more practice under your belt, make a plan, cut out the rivet and modify them as you see fit.

 

[Gandalfgreen]

thanks for the info appreciate it. looks like I get to do some hammering today had to call off work kiddo not feeling well. Think I will start with cutting off a piece of the spring I have and making a chisel need one. just got figure out shape of head and how much of edge to put on it.

[BillyBones]

Cant braze wood? What? Give me a day or 2... Seriously though, did not think i was trying to braze wood did you? It was on my fire set that i burned the shovel handle off of. 

The handle burnt between the rivet holes so it was kind of thin and narrow at that spot. Trickier than i thought it would be. I have brazed a million times with oxy-acetylene. Watch it come to temp then let the braze flow. After looking back i am wondering if i grabbed a brass rod and not a brazing rod (i use fluxless rods). i know some rods are brass but dont they have a lower melting point than just store bought brass rounds?  

I used the angle iron to get that middle seem for added strength. The iron though is thick enough that it provably doesnt really need it though. 

[Pat Masterson]

Gandalfgreen congrats man…finally got your forge going that’s awesome!

Its only Saturday and I have so much to share already. 
Ok 1. is the kastolite- doesn’t look as nice as Gandalfgreens but this stuff is awesome. This thing is running way hotter than before and it’s definitely from the kastolite bc I was always using the fire bricks to close it off..one side is just more convenient now with the sliding brick door. not sure if it’s a good thing that you can kind of see it glowing through the bottom though..? If someone can tell me if that means it’s possibly too thin in that spot? Either way though its running much hotter. Almost burned 1/2” material by not paying attention. I never had to worry about burning up 1/2” previously unless I had it cranked all the way up trying to forge weld.  
2. got the these little bits for my dremel off Amazon. Supposedly tungsten carbide which I didn’t think was possible for $15 shipped but I’m starting to believe. They’re pretty good. 
3. used them to clean up the cut outs in these guitar bottle openers I made for my cousins for Christmas. I can’t cut a straight triangle but that’s ok. Really kind of mad I went with that design just bc it was what I saw a picture of. I have this large square punch and I think turning it 45 and punching a couple Diamond holes would’ve been much nicer. Not usually a beer drinker but hey what kind of blacksmith would I be if I didn’t make sure they worked…
4. ok most important. I posted some chisels I made a week or two back and they have held up really well. So today I needed to make smaller cutting end chisels..one straight and one curved to do these cutouts in the guitars. As you can see one deformation and one total failure. They held up long enough to get the job done but I’m disappointed as these were going to be really useful for me. I’m putting a pic of the grain structure. Hoping someone can tell me what’s happening. I heat treated the same way as before. 3 cycles of up to critical and cooled to a black heat to normalize, did my initial grinds, then brought up just passed non magnetic as slow as I could, quenched in canola and tempered to a straw color. These were made from a big half inch spring that controls the dock plates in warehouses. I had assumed I just didn’t do enough cooling during use, especially with the curved one as it was pretty thin, but then I just barely tapped it to try to straighten it a bit and I got that clean break. Will probably make them again but I don’t want the same thing to happen. 
 

[Gandalfgreen]

well minus my homemade kastolite fire brick falling to the ground and shattering I had a good day. started off with a spring cut off a full coil was not sure how much would need. then straightened it out and cut off what I thought was a good amount and then went at making a chisel. really like the step down and extended part of my horn for that.  not to shabby I don't think turned off the forge to come in for dinner left chisel in it to cool off and I hope normalize but not sure got to read some more.

[ThomasPowers]

Well last night my wife made me eat dinner before she would allow me to go out to the shop.  Using my phone as a flashlight I was able to throw the main breaker---200 amp 220 it was really stiff.  Any way I have light.

Didn't get much at the scrapyard this morning; a pair of levi 501 jeans a 2'x2'x5/8"? slab of granite. some misc nuts and bolts and a power cord for a dryer.  (Stuff that isn't metal is usually free! And a lot of strange stuff come in with the wrecked cars...)

On the way home I stopped by the windmill place and asked about some 1/4" sq stock for the class tomorrow: The had a couple of pieces 12' long; nope they didn't. Oh wait they had a couple of 20' long ones, I pay for them and then they come up and say nope they haven't.  Void that transaction and as I'm walking out the door the Owner says he found 3 12' pieces put back where they shouldn't have been. Gave me a good price, $5.40 a stick, even better as it's only 2 miles back home, not 50!   So I'm set for tomorrow's class with the students getting a 21" piece to make their S hook and two nails.  The chilies will be done from pipe if they have time.

Waiting on the crew to get here to load; getting old and decrepit is not all bad...

After lunch I've started packing for tomorrow's class

[JHCC]

Did a lot of cutting out and grinding on the rooster. After consultation with Kim Thomas, I’ve decided not to make a spring mount. I’m going to weld in a vertical center post that will be either welded or bolted onto the scroll.